Mike Hawthorn Le Mans lap 1956

[Wacky Racer]

[blueacid]

Well that was lovely! Cheers!

[Unreal]

Somebody in the way. Cyclists everywhere. Typical French.

Another world.

[rovermorris999]

Excellent! Thanks for posting. Different times indeed.

[nicanary]

TBF Jaguar works cars were road-registered.

[P. ONeill]

Wonderful coverage. Thanks for sharing.

[hilly10]

Thanks enjoyed that. Looking at Arnarge Corner no houses back then, so different.

[williamp]

That's great. I'm tempted to start a thread with loads of le mans footage ready for the 100th anniversary race in June.

There's loads out there..

[moffspeed]

Love the video but please… it’s Hawthorn without an “e”.

Similarly Jim Clark without an “e” (another common mistake).

[moffspeed]

Hawthorn was haunted by the ‘55 Le Mans tragedy. Obviously he was initially implicated in the Macklin/Levegh accident but later exonerated.

Seems odd that he took part in such a high profile filming event on his return in ‘56. Or just facing up to his demons ?

[bumskins]

moffspeed said:

Seems odd that he took part in such a high profile filming event on his return in ‘56. Or just facing up to his demons ?

Not so sure - he had done plenty of driving in the interim, plus being of a similarly-outgoing nature to someone like Graham Hill, I can imagine Hawthorn being more than willing to perform the task. Plus, given post-Levegh's crash Hawthorn kept driving through the race to eventually take victory, not sure how forward in his mind the accident would have been.

I'd imagine it would have been more prominent in the mind of Fangio, who was following so would have seen the whole accident unfold, and was lucky himself not to have been collected by Macklin's Healey.

[Wacky Racer]

moffspeed said:

Love the video but please… it’s Hawthorn without an “e”.

Similarly Jim Clark without an “e” (another common mistake).

Soz.

[Cam Tait]

Title updated! Epic video

[TrotCanterGallopCharge]

bumskins said:

moffspeed said:

Seems odd that he took part in such a high profile filming event on his return in ‘56. Or just facing up to his demons ?

Not so sure - he had done plenty of driving in the interim, plus being of a similarly-outgoing nature to someone like Graham Hill, I can imagine Hawthorn being more than willing to perform the task. Plus, given post-Levegh's crash Hawthorn kept driving through the race to eventually take victory, not sure how forward in his mind the accident would have been.

I'd imagine it would have been more prominent in the mind of Fangio, who was following so would have seen the whole accident unfold, and was lucky himself not to have been collected by Macklin's Healey.

Back then, people had a different view of danger, risk & death, it was more accepted. WW2 wasn't that long before, when people risked their lives every day, there were reminders everywhere, & drivers died in motorsport (or workplace etc) all the time.

Hawthorn did blame himself, I believe he said he'd caused it in the pits just after the crash, but he had a job to do, & went out again & did it. Concentrating on others things no doubt helped. He had his own medical condition, so may have realised how short life could be.

Note that despite the horrific crash the year before, the new pits STILL don't have a barrier separating them from the track, with cars going by at up to 150mph, something I think that only happened in the late 60's/early 70s. It's way wider now. Le Mans was a bad accident waiting to happen in the pit lane/track straight, especially the way they refuelled/stored fuel back then.

[TO73074E]

It's natural that the track and safety evolved over time but it's still quite shocking to see how narrow it is compared to today. The tree line is literally the track limit at many points. Was there one specific year when they altered the layout massively? Trees being cut down, widening etc?

[Wacky Racer]

1955 Le Mans disaster.

WARNING. Contains distressing crash scenes.

Should the race have been stopped?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMoh5hZAaZk&t=...

[TO73074E]

Wacky Racer said:

1955 Le Mans disaster.

WARNING. Contains distressing crash scenes.

Should the race have been stopped?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMoh5hZAaZk&t=...

I would say absolutely, it was crazy to think it could continue after such a horrific accident. Although, one of the explanations as to why it wasn't stopped does make sense. They feared stopping the race would cause most people to head for the exits which could have impeded the emergency services trying to get into the circuit and help the injured.

[TrotCanterGallopCharge]

TO73074E said:

Wacky Racer said:

1955 Le Mans disaster.

WARNING. Contains distressing crash scenes.

Should the race have been stopped?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMoh5hZAaZk&t=...

I would say absolutely, it was crazy to think it could continue after such a horrific accident. Although, one of the explanations as to why it wasn't stopped does make sense. They feared stopping the race would cause most people to head for the exits which could have impeded the emergency services trying to get into the circuit and help the injured.

Trackside medical care was very limited & primitive even with F1 into the 70's, & would have been swamped. Proper Emergency Services would be required to help treat all the 120-178 wounded & dying, to get them to local hospitals ASAP.

If the track authorities actually had all the tannoy equipment/known system, like making a certain sound to warn people of an emergency, required to tell everyone the situation (difficult over a large circuit, & with racing car engines noise blocking out the message), & could ensure people wouldn't go to the limited exits, then the race could be stopped, otherwise the best option is to get all the Emergency Services there ASAP.

Like most disasters, it caught the organisers out, but the Pits area was an accident of some kind waiting to happen.

[Rapid rental]

What a wonderful film, thanks for posting it.

[Unreal]

There's an interesting old one hour programme centred around Le Mans 1981 currently available on iplayer. Those of you who will remember the days of the fairground and genuine privateers will particularly enjoy it.